Riley Sheehan (NSN Development Team) won the reduced bunch sprint at Circuit de Wallonie for his first victory in three years.
The 25-year-old US rider launched his acceleration on the slightly uphill finish, coming from fifth position in a final corner. He then had time to glance back before the line to see rivals several bike lengths behind. Gerben Thijssen (Alpecin-Premier Tech) went second and Joren Bloem (Unibet Rose Rockets) took third.
Sheehan last won at 2023 Paris-Tours, riding his first season with the squad when it was at the ProTour level.
“In the final, I just had to follow the wheels and, in the final corner, I just had to press on the pedals as hard as I could. I felt pretty confident once I knew I was coming out of the corner [in first]. I let the gap go a bit [into the corner], so I had a bit of a slingshot.
"It was a perfect job by the team to set me up, so at the finish, I could just do what I can do,” Sheehan said after the race in a team statement.
Thursday's Belgian race covered 196.1km from la Louvière to Charleroi. An attack in the final 15km of the finish circuit was made by Fred Wright (Pinarello Q36.5) and the British rider took a solo lead, but was caught with 5km to go. The peloton was reduced to less than 20 riders for the finale, with Sheehan the best of the bunch.
“It was a hard final, with Q36.5 doing crazy attacks, full gas, but my team stayed so calm, and the guys rode so well. There was full gas support for me today."
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